Piece by Piece
by ten million fireflies
Summary: "It's like a puzzle, almost, and Annabeth's always loved puzzles." An exploration of the relationship between a girl with princess curls and a boy who drools in his sleep, in honor of our Seaweed Brain's birthday and our favorite couple's anniversary.


**Hello everyone! In honor of our favorite hero's birthday, and our favorite couple's anniversary, here is Piece by Piece, an exploration of the beautiful relationship that is Percabeth. (This is also for my dear friend Abbey, who originally requested this fic a while ago.) Enjoy, don't forget to review, and eat a blue cupcake in celebration of our dear Seaweed Brain's birthday!**

**I disclaim.**

* * *

they are completely polar opposites, entirely separate entities, but somehow they fit perfectly together. they always have, really.

it's almost like a puzzle, with two different-shaped pieces that snap, just right, into place, and the longest time passed before they were fully aware. everyone else saw it, of course- it was clear as day, but love is blind so forever went by before they finally noticed and finished their puzzle.

(so this is their story, piece by piece.)

* * *

it is the summer of their thirteenth year. she is a girl with princess curls and he is a boy who drools in his sleep, and together they go on a quest, a quest to recover a lightning bolt the boy is blamed for stealing.

(and percy's not really a thief but already he's stealing her heart, piece by piece.)

he is a son of Poseidon, she is a daughter of Athena. they're not supposed to tolerate each other, let alone be friends-

(let alone should annabeth blush when percy compliments her for riding a Fury piggyback.)

-so it's then, when they both come back in one piece, that the campers start talking, that grover starts wondering, if their star-crossed friendship could be a bit more than that.

(but summers end and percy leaves and annabeth forgets about him for another year.)

(well…maybe he crosses her mind, once or twice, and maybe she misses him, just a little.)

* * *

a year goes by and before they know it it's summer again. she is a girl with a haunted past and he is a boy being challenged yet again. this year, they have to stow away on a quest, this time, to save their best friend and the camp.

(it's the hardest thing they've ever done but annabeth almost doesn't mind because with percy back at her side she feels she can do anything.)

but she can't do anything- _no one can do anything._ all too late she realizes her fatal flaw is pride, and she hates that he has to save her life because of it. there's nothing that kills her more than being dependent.

(because dependency comes with trust, and trust leads to love, and everyone annabeth's ever loved has been temporary. she hates temporary, almost as much as she hates dependence.)

they save grover and the camp, find the fleece, too, but not before he sees her hurt, really hurt, and it's the most terrifying thing he's ever seen because _it's simply not who she is. _she is beautiful, strong, brilliant- not broken, weak, fading.

(percy knows he'd do anything to never see her this hurt again and it's not until her breathing is steadied that he can finally sleep. her head against his shoulder helps with that, too.)

the fleece does its work a little too well, and then the summer ends, like it always does.

(but this time she kisses him on the cheek, and percy and annabeth both know that this time, forgetting each other won't be nearly as easy.)

(deep down, though, they don't want to forget. not really.)

* * *

chill enters the wind as summer turns to fall, as fall turns to winter. she is a girl who's grown up quite a bit and he is a boy unsure why he's just now noticing. christmas break finds them on a rescue mission, on their way to grover and two unclaimed demigods at westover hall. with them is their new- well, not exactly new- friend thalia, because the fleece did its work a little too well but that's not really a bad thing.

(when percy looks at thalia he sees a strange reflection of himself. but usually he looks at annabeth and wonders when the grey eyes that always glared at him got so beautiful.)

they end up trying to blend in at a middle school dance, so they're talking but there's so much left unsaid it's painful. and then thalia pushes them together and tells them to dance, so they do because angry daughters of zeus are terrifying but he keeps stepping on her toes and she's a good two inches taller and he's sure his hands are sweating and she's _certain _her cheeks are bright red.

but beneath all the awkwardness, all the embarrassment, she's aware that they're holding hands and- well, it doesn't feel entirely wrong. their hands just sort of fit together, perfectly in place, and she's not quite sure what this means.

(it's like a puzzle, almost, and annabeth's always loved puzzles.)

but then she is gone- missing, taken from them before he can even react- and he's shell-shocked and speechless and it feels like a part of him is missing and he's lost, so lost, without her at his side, correcting his mistakes and laughing at his frequent stupidity.

(perhaps it's the broken look on percy's face when he realizes annabeth is missing that makes nico ask if she's his girlfriend. and perhaps it's percy's indignant reply that makes nico certain that if she isn't now, it's only a matter of time.)

he sets out to find her, of course- you don't just sit back and watch when a part of you goes missing- so he sneaks off with thalia and zoe and bianca and grover. he travels across the country and fights off lions and skeletons and manticores and tries not to lose hope when bianca goes up in smoke.

(aphrodite's promised him a tragic future but when he thinks of bianca, dead, and annabeth, missing, he can't help but wonder _isn't his life already tragic enough?_)

they fight of a dragon and argue with the hesperides and he challenges a titan and then she is there, crumbled on the floor, hands in chains, bleeding, bruised-

(but percy thinks she's never looked more beautiful because she's _alive_, and he breathes again.)

(and when he literally takes the world on his shoulders, annabeth realizes he'd do anything for her- and he'd do it again, and again, and again.)

luke crashes over the cliff and zoe is dying and look, there she is shining in the stars, so they both try not to cry. they ride back to olympus, and their fate is decided. thalia joins the hunters and for a split second he's terrified _she'll _leave him, too, but she stays and he breathes and now they're dancing, dancing again, and in that moment it's like they've been there all along, hands intertwined and eyes shining.

and in that moment, everything is perfect.

(they wish they could live in that moment forever, but now it's time to say goodbye once again, until next summer.)

(but this goodbye, annabeth almost loses control and lets herself say that she'll miss him. and she will.)

* * *

it's summertime again and the clock is ticking, on and on, ever persisting. she is a girl jealous and confused and halfway in love but unsure who with and he is a boy somehow caught in the middle of it all.

(and more and more, percy finds himself thinking about her and wondering if she's doing the same.)

she runs into him- literally- one day, as he runs away from a burning school- he _would _be running away from a burning school, because some things just never change, right? she hugs him and notices how _tall_ he's gotten over the past year and they're smiling and talking until she notices _her._

(because there's some redheaded girl calling percy's name and annabeth can feel him slipping right through her fingers, and she hates to admit it but she's terrified of losing him.)

it's like there's a wall between them now, one that grows thicker and taller with each day of cold silences and stony glares, and he finds himself wondering _what did he do wrong?_

(but then suddenly it's just the two of them, just percy and annabeth and endless darkness, and he feels her hand slip into his and realizes that they'll always come back to each other because that's just the way they are.)

chiron's calling for a quest now, and she is to lead it and it's her worst nightmare and wildest dream combined. _to lose a love worse than death_, the oracle tells her, and she freezes up because who else could that mean but luke? luke, luke who just a few short years ago was all she had, and what she wouldn't give to go back to those years.

(she doesn't even consider that it might mean percy, because that would mean he'd be safer left behind but there's no way she's going back into the darkness without him.)

so down into darkness they descend, and it's just them and tyson and grover and sleepless nights and fighting for their lives and a boy who talks to ghosts and somewhere in the midst of it all she finds herself changing, becoming someone she didn't think she would ever be. so she's wondering if she ever really loved luke half as much as she thought she did, because if she really did, would she be falling in love like this now?

(annabeth's not sure if the heat is from the volcano around them or her own heart pounding, but all she knows is she's ten seconds away from losing him and there's no time to analyze.)

she presses her lips to percy's and doesn't look back.

and then, he's gone. dead? not dead, but gone, because he can't possibly be dead. she refuses to believe he's dead. but two weeks of no word from him speaks otherwise, and chiron has them prepare a shroud. she doesn't cry. she's too broken and empty for that.

(her heart jumps when she looks over the hill and sees percy jackson crashing his own funeral. her heart sinks when she realizes where he's been.)

he sees her for the first time since she kissed him and wonders how he ever could have considered staying with calypso, because forever without her is a pretty depressing thought.

(percy does a pretty bang-up job of proving this to her, though, when he invites rachel elizabeth dare along on their quest.)

even rachel can see it, though, because there's obviously a reason why since rachel's arrival, she won't speak to him and he's not putting forth much of an effort either. she can't believe he'd disappear to calypso's island two weeks after she _kissed _him, di immortales, and he can't believe she won't talk to him just because rachel's there.

(annabeth knows that love is blind, but she refuses to acknowledge that this is love because she'll lose a love worse than death on this quest and even after all percy's done she's not quite sure what she'd do without him.)

so they make it through the quest without killing each other, somehow. he comes so close to death so many times that she loses count, and once or twice she's so scared for his life that she _almost_ forgives him. almost.

(and then luke isn't luke anymore so the prophecy must have meant him, but the more annabeth thinks about it the more she realizes he was only ever a brother to her, and now she's just confused all over.)

nico's with them again, rachel's at home, grover's got a future, and there's been a lot of goodbyes but the labyrinth's gone, so everything's okay now, right?

but it's not, not really, and he knows there's something she's not telling him. it hurts not to be speaking with her like this but it hurts to be around her, too, now that luke is gone and he knows her thoughts are with him and wherever all his wrong choices have taken him.

(so when percy says goodbye to annabeth this summer, the tension's still there. she promises to write but doesn't mean it, really, and she does nothing to close the distance between them, just says goodbye and doesn't look back.)

(but the more percy thinks about it, about rachel and calypso and all that's happened and all that _will _happen, the more he realizes he doesn't _want_ any distance between them. he'd come closer, if only she'd let him.)

(and he'll be sixteen before they know it, and they're running out of time to finish the puzzle.)

* * *

the leaves turn to green and the sun beats down as summertime returns, and time is slowly melting away as disaster approaches. she is a girl just trying to hold on and he is a boy who never asked for all of this, and he's desperate for an escape.

(and suddenly being around annabeth equals being around stress and pain and confusion, so percy spends time with rachel elizabeth dare and pretends his life is normal.)

and then he finds himself staring down into the black waters of the river styx-_this is what he has to do-_and somehow he finds the courage to jump in, and his skin is burning and his heart is racing and he feels himself slowly slipping away, and then-

a face, _her _face, smiling and laughing and calling him a seaweed brain. "take my hand," she says, and in that moment, there's nothing else he'd rather do.

(he takes annabeth's hand, and percy finds himself living and breathing and a hero again, and he knows that without her, he'd still be at the bottom of the river. he doesn't want to be without her anymore.)

he wishes he could tell her this, but then new york city falls fast asleep and kronos is ready to invade, and- and it's _time. _they're plunged into the middle of a war and there's no time for passionate declarations, because if he loses focus at the wrong moment, it could be the end of everything.

(and now percy's at the bottom of another river, and this time when he surfaces, annabeth _is_ there, waiting for him, and she looks so happy to see him alive that he wonders what would happen if they were anywhere else.)

and now they're on a bridge and they're fighting an army twice the size of their own, and it's strange but for some reason she feels so at _home_ by his side. because even if her life is in jeopardy every second, it's safe next to him because she knows he'd do anything to protect her.

(she'd do anything to protect him, too, so when ethan nakaruma's knife is poised at just the right angle and all she can think is _percy percy percy, _she thrusts her arm in front of the blade and braces herself.)

he turns around and sees her just in time to see the pain cloud her grey eyes, and her face is pale as she falls to the ground and there's blood, so much blood, and it's as if his world stops because in that moment all he can think of is _her_-

(_annabeth annabeth annabeth_, and percy's terrified because she could _die, _and she was ready to die, for- for him. he can't lose her.)

when he sees her lying on the terrace, broken but _alive_, he thanks every god he can think of that she's still breathing. he thanks her for saving his life- and when she asks where his vulnerable point is, he doesn't hesitate to answer. why should he?

(because sometimes percy thinks that annabeth knows him better than he knows himself, and doesn't it make sense that she should know even this secret of his?)

her next few hours are filled with pain as she fights to stay conscious. monsters, swords clashing, blood-splattered pavement and too many goodbyes. and here they are on olympus, she and he and grover, and things have come awfully full-circle, now, haven't they? falling, falling-and landing, alive by the slightest chance, safe in his arms.

and then she sees the face that haunts her dreams, even now. _luke. _

(luke, who she once loved. luke, who isn't really luke anymore but kronos. luke, who annabeth can't help but still believe in.)

_keep her safe _is the only thing on his mind as he charges luke-kronos and ethan in a final, desperate attempt to save the only world he's ever belonged in. _keep her safe_. she's telling him to give luke the knife, and he wonder's if she's insane.

(but she's annabeth and she's always been right, so for once, percy listens to her.)

she takes a shaky breath. luke is…luke is _dying. _luke is dying but the war is over and no one died in vain and she is safe and so is he- _he's alive. _"did you love me?" luke asks.

(and annabeth takes one look at percy, because he is alive and by her side and the only one who's never let her down, the only one she trusts to never let her down.)

she knows her answer. "you were like a brother to me, luke. but i never loved you."

(annabeth loves someone else entirely.)

a shroud is brought for the son of hermes, and flash forward, here they are, the world saved and them being rewarded for doing so. she is the architect of olympus and he is an ordinary boy- well, as ordinary as you can be after you've saved the world and become the greatest hero of the modern age.

(and when the gods offer percy immortality, all it takes is one look at annabeth to realize that he doesn't want eternity, he doesn't want perfection- all he needs is a chance for things to get better.)

and they do, because just a few hours later, they're sitting under the stars together, fingers covered in blue-dyed frosting and chocolate cake, hearts beating in anticipation.

he smiles at her. she laughs at him. and then, like a puzzle finally falling into place, she wraps her arms around his neck, promises never to make things easy for him-

(-and just like that, they are percy and annabeth and they are _together._)

(and at the end of this summer, they don't have to say goodbye. because now, they've building something permanent.)

* * *

he is the sea and she is a castle and like a tidal wave he crashes in and breaks down her walls, and he washes away at her plans like they're etched in the sand but for once she doesn't mind because it's _him_.

(and somehow, she's known it was always going to be like this.)

so after the longest time, their lives, their stories, their puzzles have finally come together, day by day, piece by piece.

(because he is Percy and she is Annabeth, and this is only their beginning.)


End file.
